Three Excuses You Give For Not Watching Cats the Musical

Oh, you plebeian. It’s different! Besides, cat videos on Youtube, entertaining as they are, do not give you 20 cats dancing in perfect synchronicity. (If they do, please send me the link, thanks!)

And although the musical is called Cats, and it is indeed mostly about cats, you also get other things. Like tap-dancing bugs. No, really. Tap-dancing bugs. You will never look at flies the same way again.

“I don’t know… I’m really not a cat person.”

Honestly, nobody watches this musical because they are a cat person. They watch it because they are theatre people. Or musical people. Or just generally a dance person. (And if you are the dance person, you absolutely watch it. The dancing was awesome.)

Or, you could be like me, and start questioning your growing attraction to a certain Rum Tum Tugger and his gyrating hips during his dance number. There ought to be a support group; I can’t possibly be the only one.

“I can always watch the movie version.” / “My kids won’t know the difference even if I take them to the movies instead; it’s a cheaper alternative.”

You must be kidding me. Granted, the musical version does not have Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, or Judi Dench in it. But it does not have cheap fifty cents, eye-burning, soul-shattering CGI either. There are some things that work better in theatre than in film; and then there are some things that do not work in film at all. Unless you secretly want to give your children feline-related nightmares for years and put them off an entire species altogether, I would not suggest the film adaptation for this one.

Not to mention, Cats is one musical where audience interaction is actually relevant. A tip for you: get front row seats if you can. Or aisle seats, at least. It seems strange to go for front row seats since most of us do not enjoy getting a neck cramp after a show, but trust me and just do it for this one.

Old Deuteronomy hangs around on stage during intervals to offer photo op sessions with audience members too. So getting aisle seats also mean you get to join the queue earlier. And the queue does get long quick.

Cats the Musical runs at Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands until 5 January 2020. What a perfect way to usher in the Year of the Rat.